Safety cap for safety-pins



Oct. 3, 1961 Filed April 24, 1959 INVENTORS ILSE F. TURNER ROBERT E. TURNER Wad/4?)? ATTORNEY a n l- 3,002,243 SAFETY CAP FGR SAFETY-PINS Ilse F. Turner and Robert E. Turner, both of Maple Ave, Leorninster, Mass. Filed Apr. 24, 1959, Ser. No. 803,837 4 Claims. (Cl. 24-156) This invention relates to a molded plastic safety cap particularly adapted for application to the head portion of a safety-pin, particularly of the type which is extremely well known to the purchasing public and which is in widespread use.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a simple and inexpensive plastic safety cap which is adapted to slide down over the head portion of said safety-pin and to become permanently attached thereto by making the cap conform interiorly thereof in general to the shape and size of the head of the safety-pin and by heating the latter just prior to application of the plastic cap thereto, thus providing a slight flow of the thermoplastic material relatively inwardly during cooling, said flow overlying certain edge portions of said safety-pin head so that the plastic cap cannot thereafter be removed therefrom, said flow acting as a locking means in combination with certain portions of the head of the safety-pin to provide for the permanent attachment of the plastic cap to the metal head of the safety-pin.

Other objects of the safety-pin reside in the provision of a safety plastic cap of the nature described which is very inexpensive to manufacture, easy to apply to the safety-pin, and which has all the advantages and functions of a plastic safety cap, resulting in an improved safety-pin particularly being adapted for use with infants, etc., said cap being provided preferably with a single entering slot at one side only of the cap closing the pin-head at the opposite side thereof; it being understood however that the invention also contemplates that there may be provided a pair of these slots, one at each side of' the cap if desired, the improved safety-pin having all of the desirable attributes of the conventional safety-pin and including the additional attributes provided by the plastic safety cap itself.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in front elevation illustrating the new safety cap in position on a conventional safety-pin;

FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, looking in the direction of arrow 2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale; and

FIG. 4 is a section on line P4 of FIG. 1 on a still further enlarged scale.

The safety-pin now in common use is made with a back leg of wire, a spring convolution therein at 12, and a pointed leg 14, the spring coil 12 being integral with both legs and providing a resilient connection between said legs. The pin is also provided with a head at the end thereof opposite the coil spring 12, this head including a point shielding generally channel-shaped member indicated at 16 which receives the point 18 and shields the same when the pin is closed. There is also a safety divider or the like which is herein indicated at 20 as is well known, and the construction and operation is well known not only to those skilled in the art but the public in general.

The invention in the present case is provided by a molded plastic cap which has a general outline, configuration, and shape similar to the head of the well-known safety-pin. This cap is provided with a tear-drop shape 3,902,243 Patented Oct. 3,

2 in section which is shown-in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, and is a one-piece socket-like member having an opening at the lower edge thereof at 22 to receive the head of the This edge is curved preferably along a line as shown in FIG. 1 to conform to the pin-head, the shield 16 termi: nating as in a relatively sharp point 24 below another relatively sharp point 26 forming the terminal portion of a head member 28 to which is fastened the back leg 10 as by rolling the metal thereover (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

The cap is generally indicated by the reference numeral 30 and it may be made almost substantially on a surface of revolution at the larger edge 32 as well as at the smaller edge 34, the radius at 34 being much smaller than that which outlines the surface at 32. By this construction, the cap is enabled to be provided with a substantially uniform section in the over-all thickness of the wall thereof as is indicated in the drawings, FIG; 3.

The side walls of the cap are substantially straight, also as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, and extend downward- 1y from the curved top edge 36 to the curved open bottom edge 22., these curves however being somewhat different as is plainly shown in FIG. 1. One of the side walls is provided with a pin-receiving opening at 38 but it is to be understood that both side walls could have such an opening, the same intersecting the edge 22 and extending upwardly to a point slightly past the divider 20. The cap opening at the lower edge thereof, which is shown in enlarged form in FIG. 4, is of course just sufficient to slip over the head of the safety-pinand the shape of the head of the safety-pin is such that there is nothing to interfere with slipping the cap onto or over the same, so that it is very easy matter to slip the cap over the head by centering the opening at the edge 22 at the curved extreme end of the head of the pin and pressing it downwardly thereonto.

It is one of the features of the present invention that the head of the pin is slightly heated just prior to such application, and therefore the thermoplastic material flows slightly and turns itself in under the relatively sharp edges 24 and 26 and also in under the curved surface of the head of the pin, indicated by the reference numeral 40.

These points of overlapping of plastic material with respect to the metal parts of the safety-pin are indicated in FIG. 4 as at 42 where the plastic has flowed slightly over the edge 24, and it will be appreciated that the plastic will be substantially co-terminus with the inner edge of the thin metallic shield member 13, or in some cases may stop short of the inner edge while over-lapping the outer edge thereof. This condition has been somewhat exaggerated in the drawings in order to bring out the construction.

The same condition has been indicated with reference to the metallic edge at 26 and this is indicated by the reference numeral 44. The same condition exists at the edges 40 and this has been indicated by the reference numerals 46, 46.

Thus the plastic cap is given four separate points of interlock with respect to the metallic head of the pin, i.e., at the points 42, 44 and 46, and there is no pressure or squeezing action of any kind required to achieve this inter-lock because of the fact that the interior surface of the cap closely fits the exterior surface of the pin. This gives the metallic pin-head a permanent plastic, non-heat conducting safety cap.

Included among the clear advantages of the present construction is the fact that the safety-pin operates the same as it always did; although in the case where there is but one point-receiving opening at 38, the safety of the pin is somewhat increased, particularly for the application of diapers or other clothing to an infant, so that the closed at 18 to bear heavily against the interior wall of the cap of the safety-pin. In the present case, however, there being a metallic shield member 16 present, the head will not wear out.

All of the characteristics of the well known and extremely popular safety-pin are hereby retained with the added advantages of the permanent plastic cap which cannot be pulled ofi through any possible use thereof, no

matter how extensive it may be, and therefore it is believed that it is apparent that a clear step forward in the art of pins of this nature has been provided according to the objects of the invention hereinbefore stated.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we do not Wish to be limited to the details here- 'in disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what we claim is:

' l. A safety-pin comprising a back leg and a free-ended front leg, a spring coil integral with both legs and connecting the same, the free end of the front leg being pointed, a metallic safety head on said back leg for receiving, latching and shielding said point, a plastic cap mounted on said metallic head and substantially contpletely covering the same, said plastic cap being provided with a point-entering slot, said slot directing the pointed end of the pin into said metallic head for latching therein, and said cap having a tear-drop shape in a transverse plane.

2. The combination of a common safety-pin having a back leg, a pointed front leg, an integral coil spring between the legs, a metal head including a shield for the pointed end of the front leg and a divider in the shield, with a plastic safety cap in substantially permanent rela t-ionship therewith, said cap covering said head and gripping it, said cap including a pair of walls, a slot in enemas t one wall for reception of the point of the front leg into the head to a position to be latched and shielded by said shield, said cap having a wall of generally uniform section and conforming generally in exterior shape to the shape of the head of the pin, the slot extending past the divider.

3. The combination of a common safety-pin including a back leg, at free-ended pointed front leg, a spring coil integral with both legs and connecting the same, a safety head on the back leg, said head including a divider for receiving, latching, and shielding the pointed free end of the front leg, with a plastic safety cap in position on and covering the safety head only, the remainder of the common safety-pin being fully exposed, said cap closely fitting and gripping the head and slightly overlapping the same at certain edges thereof for substantially permanent attachment to the head, said cap including a pair of substantialiy straight spaced side walls, a curved closed end generally fitting the head and said cap having an open end opposite the closed end so that the cap can be rectilinearly slid down over the head concealing the head, a slot in at least one wall of the cap, said slot extending from the edge of the cap at the open end to a point past the divider and receiving the free end portion of the front leg of the common safety-pin, the walls of the cap being spaced laterally from the divider so that the free end portion of the front leg is enabled to be thrust through the slot and past the divider.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein the divider extends fully across the slot.

References fitted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS .1,9l8,958 Celina July 18, 1933 2,348,696 Schabacker May 9, 1944 2,524,346 Galloway Oct. 3, 1950 2,668,996 Kumrnli Feb. 16, 1954 2,760,247 Gagnasco Aug. 28, 1956 2,823,436 Karailus Feb. 18, 1958 2,887,748 Heyden May 26, 1959' 2,893,091 Mitchell July 7, 1959 

